The field of the invention relates generally to containment systems used for maintenance operations, and more specifically, to flexible enclosures for abrasive blasting, priming, and painting processes.
There are some systems utilized to contain and prevent the release of debris from grit blasting, starch, and/or plastic media blasting. Generally, these procedures are used for paint removal and/or shot peening operations. These operations are performed, for example, on aircraft in factories, flight line hangars or other contamination sensitive environments.
In one example, a planned structural modification of an aircraft surface incorporated a grit blast operation to be performed on the aircraft. The grit blast operation is generally performed in a contamination sensitive environment, such as near whole aircraft static test and fatigue test fixtures, and on flight test aircraft within flight line hangars. Grit blasting operations generate large quantities of airborne grit which can damage nearby aircraft and/or aircraft systems. These operations may also pose threats to the health of workers in the vicinity of these grit blasting operations.
Similarly, there are some systems and processes utilized in priming and/or painting operations to contain and prevent the release of organic vapors, overspray, fumes, fine particulates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other toxic materials generated by primer/paint spraying. These operations are performed, for example, on aircraft in factories, flight line hangars or other contamination sensitive environments. Spray applied finishes are preferred in such application as they are generally of better quality than manually applied (brushed on) finishes.
Currently, temporary containment systems are used for grit blasting, priming, and painting. These containment systems are generally fabricated from rigid materials forming a frame-supported enclosure. For example, some known containment systems for grit blasting are fabricated from rigid plastic to support the attachment of gloves and air line feed-through lines. In such a system, a user inserts their hands and arms into these gloves into an interior area defined by the rigid plastic structure.
However, such a configuration has several disadvantages and limitations. For example, existing containment systems that are based on rigid enclosures, cannot be fitted to the specific shape of aircraft surfaces undergoing maintenance operations. These containment systems also cannot be positioned properly on the aircraft because they come in contact with physical obstacles near to the aircraft surfaces being worked. Also, for example, for priming and/or painting to the edge of a surface, a frame-supported enclosure needing to rest on portions of the repair field would interfere with the area to be coated. There does not appear to be a commercially available enclosure which can be adapted by the end-user, in the field at the point of use, to fit a variety of repair field sizes and shapes.